Black is Black Ch. 02

Sharese smiled and said, "I know what I'm voting for! I also want to say, and I think I'm speaking for everyone, thank you for being the best bosses I have ever encountered. Your generosity and kindness is exceptional and I plan to work here until I retire...which may be never!" Everyone laughed and nodded in agreement with what Sharese said.

Finally, Ty asked if there was anything else anyone wanted to bring up. Marcus stood and said, "The success of this place is going to catch the eye of organized crime very soon. We will need to formulate a plan to deal with that when that day comes."

Ty said, "Thanks Marcus, I've been thinking about that. We will get together about that soon. So, I think the wait staff should get together and the performers all get together now and choose someone to represent your group on the management committee. This shouldn't be an exercise of choosing the most popular amongst you, but the person you choose should be smart, well-spoken and not afraid to speak out. When you've made your choices, your rep should come sit with us."

The two groups sat together separately and after about 15 minutes one person approached us from each group. We could see that Sharese was chosen by the performer group and a young woman named Roxy, who was one of our original hires, was chosen by the wait staff. When they both sat, we offered our congratulations and told them what we expected of them. Both women had no problem, so we began talking. After a while, Sharese said, "By the way, 100% of the performers want to opt for the profit sharing."

Roxy then said, "Our group does too and they asked me to tell you all how happy they are to be working here. One thing our group would like would be more regular days off with two consecutive days off. I realize that early on we needed all hands on deck, but now, Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are fairly slow, so we'd like to be able to work out a way for days off. Nobody is willing to forego Fridays or Saturdays because we make big money on those days."

Ty looked at me since I dealt with the wait staff the most, so I said, "I have no problem with that as long as Friday's and Saturdays are fully covered. Why don't you as a group decide your schedule and then submit it to me when you're ready." Roxy smiled and nodded. I then turned to Sharese and asked, "Does your group have a similar issue?"

Sharese replied, "Not really because the more we work the more we make and as you know we all have a fairly limited shelf life, so we are all building our retirement funds. If we need a day off we, generally, just work it out amongst ourselves and we get enough time off when our periods come along."

The last to speak was Marcus when everyone had left but Ty, Didi and myself. "I'm sorry boss if my comments about organized crime was badly timed. You should know that we've had several people from a local crime family nosing around. We've managed to keep them at bay so far, but I'm afraid they will attempt something more serious pretty soon. I've been talking the situation over with some of the other guys and we think we have a solution that will put an end to the problem."

Ty asked, "What's the solution?"

"We thought it would be better that you not know what we are planning. We would require the club be closed for one night so my entire crew can be away from the club. As you know 4 of the guys were in military special services and they all value working here and would hate to see it put in jeopardy by outsiders. If you would give us the go ahead, we would need to be gone next Wednesday. I guarantee no connection will be made to the Blue Diamond."

Ty looked at Didi and me and asked, "What do you to think? You both have an equal say."

Didi spoke first saying, "This is a little out of my depth, so I'll defer to whatever decision you and Leah make."

Ty then looked to me, so I said, "All I know about organized crime is what I've seen on TV shows and what I've read in newspapers. My overriding concern is for the safety of our employees and I'm pretty sure they would ruin the club if they got their hands on it. So, I'm in favor of letting Marcus and his men do whatever they deem necessary."

Ty smiled at me and then said, "I agree with Leah. I'm prepared to do whatever I can to protect all of us. So, Marcus, we'll close on Wednesday and you do what you need to."

As we got up, I pulled Marcus into a hug and said, "Please be careful. I don't think I could sleep at night if you or any of the others got hurt. We love all you guys!"

Marcus smiled and said, "There's no need to worry."

I kissed his cheek and then Didi hugged and kissed him as well.

We informed everyone that the club would be closed this upcoming Wednesday. We decided to take a page from England and called it a 'bank holiday' and left it at that. Actually, it was nice to take the day off and do nothing. Didi and I lazed around our apartment and read, cleaned a little and had no sex. I had to laugh because a no sex day for us was like a sex day for the rest of the world.

By the following Thursday, our security team, in full, was back to work and I could see no problems or injuries amongst them. Two days later on the TV news there was a breaking story about how several different mob groups and a couple of gangs that had all been found dead...every member of those organizations! No group had taken credit, so the media had started calling the mystery group 'the city vigilantes'. Not a very clever name, but at least they didn't tag 'gate' on what happened as in 'vigilantegate'.

Marcus and the others seemed their same selves and never mentioned anything about what was discovered, so I just left them be and was happy to know that all of our employees and ourselves were safe for the time being.

Several weeks later, Didi's divorce became final, so we began making plans for our nuptials. As we talked, Didi asked, "Can we make it a double wedding and share our happiness with Sharese and Essie?" I thought that was a splendid idea, so we asked the two if they'd like to share our day with us. They were overjoyed with the idea.

We decided to have the ceremony in the club and discovered we could have anyone 'deputized' by the state to perform the ceremony. All four of us wanted Ty to perform our ceremony and he agreed to do it. All of the members of the club were invited to attend and all but a few did. It turned out to be quite an event. Ty paid for a one-week honeymoon for Sharese and Essie in the location of their choice, which was Niagara Falls of all places.

It was decided that all four of us couldn't be gone at the same time on honeymoon, so we let Sharese and Essie go first and when they returned we would go. Didi said she wanted to make all of the arrangements for our honeymoon and kept everything secret. I didn't discover where we were going until we checked in for our flight.

I was shocked to find out that we were flying first class to Paris! As we sat in our seats sipping champagne, I had realized that I had forgotten that I had married into money. I turned to Didi and said, "I forgot you're rich. Shouldn't we have signed a prenuptial agreement?"

Didi looked at me like I had frogs coming out of my ears and said, "Why would I need to do that? There's no way you can cheat on me, since we are always at the club together. We fuck the same men and women as each other, so who are you going to cheat on me with? Besides, I know we'll never get divorced because we love each other too much!"

She was right, so I leaned over and kissed her. We ended up taking 2 weeks spending our time in Paris, the Cote d' Azur, Rome, the Greek island of Lesbos (we thought that was appropriate!) and then flew home from Athens. I didn't think it would be possible to fall anymore in love with Didi but our honeymoon did the trick. When we got back home, we were both anxious to get back to work (though work isn't really the right term, it's more like fun!)

A couple of months later marked the 1-year anniversary of when I entered the Blue Diamond Jazz Club and my life changed radically. I celebrated the day by spending it with Ty telling him how much I loved him and how I loved how he changed my life in one night.

He smiled, kissed me and said, "Your life wasn't the only one that changed that evening. I know I haven't ever said it, but you have to know that I love you too. You have made me a better person and I want to thank you for staying with me."

Over the next few years our club was doing great with no headaches at all. Our restaurant was exceptional, our performers were second to none in beauty and eroticism. Our wait staff were the best in the business and they all loved their jobs, especially the extracurricular sex they got to enjoy. Marcus and his team kept us safe and efficiently dealt with any trouble that cropped up. I was so happy, I thought my life was perfect.

However, life has a way of changing things in nasty ways sometimes. Ty had been slowing down, losing weight and wasn't feeling very well. He thought he just had some bug and that it would go away given time. Didi and I implored him to see a doctor, but he put us off with his 'bug' routine for quite a while. Finally, the two of us physically dragged him to a doctor.

The doctor had blood drawn, took urine samples and did a complete physical examination. We were sent home and were told the results from the tests would come in a few days. Four days later, Ty's doctor called and said that he had made an appointment with a Dr. Oswald in order to do some more tests. The two of us drove Ty to his next appointment where this new guy did another bank of tests including a CT scan and an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.

It turned out that Ty had stage 4 pancreatic cancer and only had two months max to live. After the doctor gave us the bad news, the three of us sat together to decide how to go forward. Ty said he wanted to spend as much time in the club as possible and when that became impossible he wanted to be admitted into a hospice care facility. Didi and I thought this was doable and only wanted what was best for Ty.

Didi and I didn't leave him alone for the rest of his life. When it looked like he only had days to live, he whispered in my ear and said, "Leah, in the top drawer of my desk is my will. I want you to know that I have loved every moment of every day that we've been together and that I love both you and Didi."

I couldn't help it and start bawling my eyes out. I was never one for tears, so this surprised me. I told him I loved him too and didn't want him to leave me. By this time, he was in the hospice facility.

Finally, I was at home ordering some stuff for the bar when Didi called me and told me to get down there immediately. I dropped everything and sped to the hospice facility. When I arrived at Ty's bedside, Didi looked at me with a teary face and said, "I think he'll pass any time now and I didn't want you or Bea to miss it. Moments later, Bea came rolling in with her girlfriend and we sat surrounding Ty. An hour later he passed and the four of us had a group hug and cry as we lamented the loss of the most important man in all of our lives.

Ty had always been adamant that he wanted to be cremated and that his ashes be kept in an urn at the Blue Diamond. So, we contacted the Neptune Society to have his remains cremated. He and I had chosen a very nice urn for his remains to be kept in when the initial diagnosis was made.

Once we took care of business at the hospice facility, the four of us returned to the club and decided to close it for the night and told everyone we would have a meeting a meeting 8pm. I went up to our apartment, went into Ty's desk and found the will. Inside the envelope was a letter addressed to me, so I opened it and read;

My Dearest Leah,

If you are reading this, then I must have died. I can't tell you how much you have meant to me over the years and I have cherished every moment we had together.

I want you to know that I have left you ownership of the Blue Diamond building and my portion of the club. You are the one who made it great and should be the one who runs it now. I know you'll worry about not being able to run the place, but you are smarter than you give yourself credit for and I'm sure the club will survive for many more years. Trust the people who work here like Sharese, Essie, Marcus, Jacque (our chef) and especially Didi. They will be the rocks you need to get through all of this.

I don't know what happens after death, but I'm not too worried, because I had the best possible life because you were in it. I love you...

Ty

Oh god, the tears began flowing like the Mississippi after I read his note to me. Didi heard me crying and came bursting into the room to help me. I handed her the letter and when she finished reading it, she hugged me and whispered, "It was very obvious to everyone that he loved you above all. You can count on all of us to help keep the Club running at peak efficiency."

I kissed my wife and told her I knew that and appreciated everything she does for me. I then said, "We should look at the will and see what it says." We pulled the legal documents free and from what we could decipher, he left Bea with $500,000, each employee got $50,000 and the rest including the building and the club to me. I saw that the lawyer who drew up the will was the gal that offered to work for us for a free membership. Her name was Isobel Montoya, so I called her and notified her that Ty had passed away that morning. I told her I didn't have a clue about how any of this stuff worked with wills and things and asked her if she could help me. She gave me her condolences and said she would be right over to talk.

Izzy, as she liked to be called, gave Didi and I heartfelt hugs and expressed her condolences to us. "Ty spent a lot of time with me last year because he had an inkling that things weren't right with him. I couldn't begin to remember how many times that he told me that he loved you Leah and how his number one wish was for you to be protected. He felt Didi was in good shape with her own money and that his sister didn't really care if she got anything or not because she was happy with her life as it was. He had been thinking of bestowing his shares to all of your loyal employees, but decided that that might be burdensome on you, so he never did it."

I thought that was a brilliant idea and said, "Can we do that? He loved everyone who worked here and he was always amazed at how much ownership they took in their jobs to make the place great. I think we should do it!"

Didi then piped up and said, "When I joined the ownership team, Leah and I owned 33% each and Ty owned 34%. Could we make Leah's share 34%? Or wait, because between the two of us we own 66%, can we just combine our shares and leave the others to share 34%? I just want to make sure that Leah is the majority owner."

Izzy laughed and said, "Actually, you can do whatever you want since Ty left his share to Leah. Anyway, because Ty's fortune is very large, his estate will have to go through probate despite there being a will. His will does make specific gifts and the probate court will recognize those gifts. Mostly, probate is in effect so that the state can make sure they get their tax money if they are entitled to it. I think Ty and I managed to word things in such a way as to minimize your tax liability."

Didi and I looked at each other and then looked at Izzy and thanked her profusely for all she has done. Didi asked, "So how do we pay you? Does it come out of the estate?"

Izzy laughed and said, "I still just work for my free membership to the club."

I looked at her and said, "No way! We really need to pay you for all of the work you do for us!"

Izzy smiled and said, "I have plenty of money and am my own boss. I like the arrangement we have."

I shook my head and said, "We really need to sweeten it for you then. From now on you are our first gold member and will be entitled to free sex, meals and drinks."

She smiled and replied "That's nice, thank you. But what I'd really liked to have is the ability to perform on stage with any of the guys or gals and have access to sex with the two of you twice a month."

I laughed and said, "Done! You'd look great on stage and I have always wanted to have sex with you since that first Bacchanalia years ago. What do you think Didi?"

"I think she'd do well in a gangbang with the three biggest cocks we have!"

The three of us laughed and then Izzy said, "I hope you're serious because I am!"

Didi said, "So are we Izzy! If you'd like to attend, we were going to announce Ty's passing to the gang this evening. They don't know yet. We should tell them that Ty wanted his shares of the club to go to the employees and that we will work on how best to do that so everyone benefits equally. If you want you can read the will if it's appropriate."

When 8pm rolled around, we found all of our employees waiting for us in the club. Didi decided that I should be the one to break the news because I was the least likely to start crying. So, I stood on the old stage and looked at all of my friends and said, "I'm sure that all of you have surmised why we closed today and why we wanted to talk to all of you, so without beating around the bush, our leader, lover and friend, Tyrone Ernest Jones left this earth this morning at 10:05am. He was surrounded by his sister Bea, Emily, Didi and myself. I'm sure you all know it, but Ty loved each and every one of you as much as he loved Bea or myself.

"Earlier today, Didi and I talked to Isobel Montoya our attorney and went over his will, which Izzy will share with you all in a few minutes. Though in the end his will doesn't show it, Izzy made it clear that Ty wanted all of you to inherit his shares in the club. He has also left each of you $50,000." There was a loud murmur as the many tearful faces smiled at Ty generosity.

"Ty always wanted to be cremated and have his ashes placed in an urn and placed in a nice place where he could hear the music and enjoy the shows that many of you put on. So, once we receive his urn we will organize a memorial here and invite all of our clients who wish to attend as well as all of you. That's about all I have to say right now, so I'll turn things over to Izzy."

Izzy read the will and explained some of the caveats etc. and when she was done said, "I know to the lay ear that most of that sounds like gibberish and to tell you the truth it is. However, a lot of that gibberish was put in place to minimize the tax burden on Leah and Bea. So, in regular English, Bea is to inherit $500,000 and Leah gets the rest, the value which will be determined at a future date. Additionally, it was Ty's wish that Leah be the primary owner of the club and run it from now on."

When Izzy finished, I looked to Bea and Didi who both had tears streaming from their faces to see if they wanted to add anything, but they both shook their heads no. So, I said, "If anyone has anything they would like to say, please feel free to come on up."

Sharese came bounding up onto the stage, hugged me and then said, "I know I speak for all of us who work here. I just want to reiterate that you and Ty and later Didi have been the best possible bosses. You all have shared so much with us all from a great work environment, incredible compensation to Ty's gigantic cock!" Everyone began laughing as did I. "I will miss that cock and thank the stars that I had multiple opportunities to take advantage of it. Leah, all joking aside, we all love you and if there is anything any of us can do to help you, Didi and Bea through this period and beyond, just know that we will all be there for you."